Just Another Label
by HopeWasHere
Summary: Ten "troubled" teens are sent to summer camp- Camp Label-not. But the only things their troubled by are their pasts. Will this camp make or break them? (set in 2003 w newsies)
1. Recollection

As I surveyed the room I met the gazes of ten students, all of whom found themselves in this office a year ago for the same reason. Although then they didn't know each other, all they knew were the labels each was given by their peers and today they know each other almost as well as themselves. Over the past year I have watched them grow, face life, death, fear and themselves. Their eyes held the truth, they held wisdom beyond their years and mine. Many of the ten have seen things that sixteen and seventeen year olds ought not see. But today here they are sitting in the small conference room, Styrofoam cups of water in front of them, preparing to go back to the camp that originally sent them into the whirlwind of choices, facing their demons and trusting. Last year they were campers, this year they were counselors-volunteers, using free will to attend instead of the same force that dragged them into that old, hot van a year ago and carried them up to the mountains for three months. Now they chose to go.

I met the stare of a young girl, one whose eyes held a dark and turbulent past, but now glimmered with hope. Her long red hair was pulled tightly back with a beige scrunchie, with just a few strands falling out of place and lining her face. She brushed them behind her ears, never taking her eyes off me. The white flecks were prominent in her bright blue eyes today, leaving nothing to chance. She wore a plain white tank top with a denim mini skirt, something she wouldn't have dared wear at school a year ago. Her name was Andrea Conlon, known to everybody here as Bottle Cap.

There was a young man sitting next to her called Dibs, formally known as Michah Benjamin Mcklan. It pleases me to know that a year ago in this office they all despised me, ready to fight, ready to leave, each practically having nowhere to go and no one to turn to. In the past year I have had them come back for advice and just to tell a story, but none was a meaningful as his story. The students who had impacted him and the girl who changed his life forever. He was someone that people didn't mess with due to his looks. He was tall, muscular, short brown hair and extremely dark blue eyes. He always wore baggy jeans and button up tops. This year his wardrobe had more color to it, instead of the typical red, black, white and some other patterns he wore-not often though. Nobody ever took the time to see past his rough exterior except these nine, and that wasn't by choice. But I'd put money on it that they are happy they did. Listen to me, now I'm sounding like race. Although he didn't go to summer camp with them, he was here when they got back. With no one and nothing, but they took him in and helped him, becoming life long friends. 

Chloe and Jack sat next to each other-they were each other's saviors. At least that's what the rest of the group teased, always sending Chloe into a fit a giggles and Jack's cheeks a shade of crimson. Her clothes were looser now than a year ago, and sometimes that worried me, but I didn't let it get to me. Knowing she was safe with the Bennetts. Chloe was a looker, along with majority of the girls here at Lake Vista High, but she had a sense of innocence that was never tainted. She had long curly auburn hair that everybody loved to play with, it was thicker these days and much fuller adding life to her little body. Jack loved her hair, he told everybody that her hair was what attracted him to her in the first place. An attraction that was deadly…Her green eyes looked over Jack who was sitting there playing with his Styrofoam cup, breaking off little pieces here and there. He had the red bandanna tied around his neck as usual, boy did the girls had fun stealing that at camp. A light blue shirt fell loosely over his white denim jeans with the sleeves rolled up, revealing his forearms. Their eyes were both a pair that held the same truth, the truth of love and why people say it isn't easy and why it hurts. Now all of them experienced truth this summer but none as dramatic as these two. Wow, I am so proud of them was I could think, as I recollected the past summer.

Michael Conlon, also know as Spot is Andrea's brother. They look nothing alike, while she has long red hair (inherited fromtheir mother) he had dirty blonde hair that sometimes looked like sand. He had it cut short and mostly wore it tucked under a gray newsie cap. He was different, wasn't going to conform, ever and that was the truth. Spot didn't lie, if he didn't like you, you knew, so most people never ask him for the truth for that fact. They had a rude awakening. It wasn't a purposeful trait it was just something that he had picked up over the years. Lying destroyed his life, so his vow was never to let lying stand in his way or destroy anybody else's life. Today he wore a pair of khaki dickies and a black shirt advertising vans. He sat there on the opposite side of bottle Cap shooting Dibs warning glare.

"Ouch!" he yelled rubbing the back of his head after Sierra slapped him. "Dang whisper, why'd ya go an do that!" Noticing he was the only speaking and he had interrupted the silent thoughts he slid back in his chair and adjusted the cap. Whisper was wearing her light brown hair down with her bangs just hanging below her eyebrows, enhancing the freckles that scattered themselves across her face. Those hazel eyes were enough to melt any heart, it just so happened a year ago all of them were immune to emotions. She wore a pair of blue jeans with a plain white tank top, not worrying about the current fashion trends and what everybody else believed. She had he friends now and was content with the life she lived. 

Michael stifled a giggle before brushing his black hair back out of his face. His red shirt was unbuttoned halfway down revealing his white beater. He rocked back and fourth in the chair surveying the room as I did earlier with a grin spread across his face. That was until he fell backwards and busted his head on the wall causing the water to spill on the table and start spreading in every which way. 

"I can't believe you just did that Skittery!" Sneaks howled as the water dripped down onto her Paris blue bell bottoms, causing wet spots to arise. Her shirt raised slightly as she threw her hands up in disbelief. She was very sarcastic and wasn't one to apply patience at every given opportunity. Her green eyes lit up with laughter seconds later at the sight of Skittery sprawled on the ground, with a wet spot right on the crotch of his jeans. 

Jake just shook his head in pure amusement waiting for someone to offer assistance to the situation. He had changed so much in the last year that life gave a new meaning to him. Jake reminded everybody of a band member from Good Charlotte that all they knew him by was Jake, nothing else. He had his newsie cap pushed to the front of his head of hair shadowing his eyes and the rest of his facial features.

Cassidy Roberts stood up and walked over to the mess on the floor, formally known as Skittery and offered a helping hand. She pressed the edge of her white cotton skirt to straighten it and readjusted her navy blue blouse before continuing to fiddle with her cross necklace. She had given life to others metaphorically and seriously. She was a true fighter, never willing to give up herself for others. To everyone here she was known as nugget, and the name fit.

Their eyes will never stop astounding me because I still find myself lost in them. Swimming in their emotions and memories. Some pleasant and some dark and rigid. But no one will ever have a tale to tell like theirs. Nobody. Not even my eyes could hold that much pain. By the way I'm Kloppman, the guidance counselor here at Lake Vista High. Welcome.


	2. The News

                                                         Kloppman

A/N: I do not own ANY of the newsies. They belong to Disney and their other respective owners. Like Bottle Cap belongs to Katie *waves* I only own the Extremely Expensive Boarding School in which I am, now that I think about it…receiving no money. *pouts*

Roughly One Year Ago      

                                                         Kloppman's view

          I examined the photos of ten students which sat completely symmetrical on my desk. Their school photos were attached to the top of their student file, which held a psychological, physical, and emotional analysis which were updated every three months. Along with those evaluations there was a record kept of disciplinary action's that have been taken with the student, dates of parental visits, SAT and ACT scores, all standardized test scores, grades from the seventh to sophomore year. They were all sophomores awaiting for the summer to come and go, so they could enter the realm of junior year. One more year till they graduate, and they are allowed to take classes at either school- girls or boys. That was one privilege to being a junior and senior. 

          A few moments later I called each of them from their classes. Half expecting for them to be joyful because I retrieved them from the confined walls of a classroom, but I received the exact opposite reaction. 

The first person to enter my office was Andrea Conlon, the Slut. Although I didn't refer to her as "The Slut" majority of her peers did along with the staff. When you get a reputation at Lake Vista High, you are stuck with that reputation and for the next six years you spend there-that's what you are. Whatever your peers decided you were. And it seems that Andrea Conlon was racking up votes for "The Slut." 

          Her knee length navy blue skirt was folded under, raising it a few inches. She wore her white button up blouse un-tucked with the red tie loose.  Against the dress code. But I did not call them here to deal with trivial problems, I called them here to inform them on the summer camp they'd all be attending called Camp Label-not, even if it was unbeknownst to them. Andrea whipped around, her hair following the sharp movements of her head. "What am I doing here? I haven't done anything wrong. And if this is for some "safe-sex" talk, count me out!" She quoted safe-sex with her fingers, mocking my job. But I said nothing.

"Why don't you take a seat, there will be others joining. We are just waiting for their arrival." I held out my hand pointing to all the available seats. 

          Andrea walked over to the corner, threw her shoulder bag onto the ground causing a loud noise as the books made contact with the wall. 

          Next walked in was Cassidy and  Sierra, whom both also had the privilege of owning a stereotypical title awarded to them by their peers. They were labeled "The Bitch" and "The Snob." These two chose seats on opposite sides of the table, as far away form each other and me as possible. Sierra set her two whit binders down in front of her, placing her pen on the side with such care and deliberation, you would almost think she believed that no one else was in the room. 

          "Boy, do you do that at home a lot?" Cassidy smirked watching Sierra.

          "Why?" Sierra looked up and glared at Cassidy, who just brushed her hair out of her eyes.

          "Because that would explain why you're so pale. I guess it's true, you never go outside." 

          "At least she ain't out getting pregnant!" A boy with dirty blonde hair appeared in the doorway, leaning his weight against the frame.

          "Shut up Michael!" Andrea rolled her eyes at her brother's grand entrance. Cassidy looked over and gave a slight smile to Andrea. "I didn't do it to be nice!" she snapped back at her smile. "He's stupid and just wishes he had a sex life."

          "I have a sex life thank you very much. And I pre-apologize that you're not in it lil'sis." 

          "That's disgusting, is she were it'd be incest and that's illegal…plus no ones that nasty." Sierra gave Andrea a sideways glance, as if she was contemplating her "Slut" reputation. 

          "Don't look at me like that." It dawned on Andrea what was running through Sierra's mind. Andrea stood up and sauntered over towards where sierra sat, leaning over the desk slightly. "Didn't you know…" Next she rolled over and sat on the desk, crossing her legs slightly as they hung over the edge. "that's how I got my reputation."

          "Sleeping with most of the male species." A new girl appeared in the doorway taking up Michaels old position. She had her navy blue skirt hiked up as well, with only half of her shirt tucked in, and the tie was completely, untied.  Shanty carried nothing with her but a mini leather backpack on her shoulder. In which she set down at the nearest desk, next to Andrea. "Who knows one of them could have been her brother." Shanty and Andrea slapped hands playfully before returning to their seats.

          "That's disgusting Shanty, and it was low." Michael glared at her for embarrassing him in front of Sierra. 

          "So can we get started…or what?" Shanty changed the subject quickly, giving a short smile to Michael. 

          "I would think so but we are still awaiting five students." I informed them, a little surprised at how accurate these profiles were. Majority of the quoted to the extent _"This student has a negative/harsh attitude. They will use sarcastic or cynical remarks to disguise their pain. The student reveals that she had no close friends or even acquaintances. "_ This was reigning true as I watched their behavior towards each other. Although it seemed Andrea and Shanty were close, I'm sure it was the opposite, as with Jack and Michael. I was believing to think Camp label-not was far from prepared for these ten students. 

          WHAM! The door opened with such a force you could hear the pressure depleting in the room. A mess of curly auburn hair filled the door way almost overtaking the girls small frame. They watched as her hair fell beyond her shoulders and discovered a new place to lay. "That charm ain't gonna get you nowhere bandanna boy!" Charly threw her purse on the table watching it slide across the smooth surface, still enraged from what happened just moments ago.

          The next person to stroll in the doorway was none other than "bandanna boy" and everyone in the room couldn't help but laugh. He was wearing the assigned khaki pants, whit button up dress shirt with collar and the traditional red tie. Except his outfit had extra flare, he wasn't wearing the tie, he was wearing a red bandanna. "Uh, yea if this is about the bandanna. I'll take it off…." He muttered about to grab a seat next to Charly.

          "Don't even think about it." She turned to face him, "And if this was about that crazy bandanna your wearing wouldn't you think we'd all have one on?"

          "Jacky boy, haven't seen ya in well…well like ten minutes. What the hell were you doing?" Michael asked trying not to grin. 

          "Running from the red headed loon." Sierra mumbled, receiving a glare from Charly.

          "Why don't you just…"

          I cut her off there, who knew where this fight would lead. "Well looks like we can begin if  Jake, Steven, and Michah  would sit down." This took everyone by surprise and almost immediately they began to readjust themselves in their seats.  All three of these guys were dressed correctly. I didn't understand why Fridays were trouble because it was the ONLY day of the week they had to wear a uniform. Steven's shaggy black hair took a seat next to Cassidy,  Michah examined the room with his blue eyes before choosing a seat next to Andrea. He ran his fingers through his short brown hair making it look "messier" than it was before, which was probably what he was going for. I kept my eyes on him for a moment before looking in Andrea and Shanty's way, seeing them grinning at each other. Last but not least Jake strolled over and pulled out a chair net to Charly. She put up no fight.

          "Okay now that we're all here, looks like we can begin." I had no idea what to say to these kids. I cared about these kids, I cared about what happened to these kids, and what they'd be doing over summer. It's just that convincing them I do…would be the hard part. "Okay each one of you has been put on "disciplinary probation" for the last five months. This puts us in a awkward position, seeing as how there's so many of you…"

          "There's ten." Michah looked at me like I was stupid.

          "Yes, well I am quite aware of that...I looked down at his file, Thank you Mr. Mcklan. Now this means over the summer we will be forced to meet once a week together and once a week alone, for discussions. You were all aware of this the last time you got in trouble… "you have one level three accusation left, before you will be recommended for disciplinary probation. Meaning that you will be forced to see a guidance counselor over summer break twice a week. Once with the other disciplinary probation kids and once by yourself…" I seriously doubted that Lake Vista pondered the fact that they would have ten kids on probation, or any for that matter. So this is where the administration recognized the dilemma. And casually assigned it to me, all their folders were brought to my office, stacked neatly on my desk with a post-it reading "deal with this." "okay, that was read to you when you signed the temporary probation contract."

          "point being…" Andrea spoke in a sarcastic tone. 

          "Point being, you ten have been assigned to me."

          "There's more?" This time it was Steven who spoke up.

          "No, only you ten."

                                                            Andrea's view:

          My eyes were transfixed on the old man sitting at the front of this office. He kept fidgeting with his glasses and glancing down at the folders. He knew something we didn't. And he wasn't prepared to tell us. I know when people are lying, or about to lie…it's a gift I guess you could say. Once when I was sitting in Algebra this year I heard a bunch of girls talking about one of their boyfriends. A small, brunette kept twisting her hair and looking away when Caitlin, the blond would look at her. I figured it had something to do with Caitlin's boyfriend, seeing as how that was today's "I have no life" topic of discussion. Caitlin's boyfriend. Brunettes nervousness. Sex. The brunette had slept with Caitlin's boyfriend and was trying to deny it. Only they believed her, but I knew. And soon after, she knew I knew. Because after class guess who ran up to catch me on my way to Chemistry. None other than the small nervous brunette. 

          "Uh, hi Andrea…" she was twisting her hair again.

          "Uh, hi." I forced a smile. This was going to destroy my reputation even more…in fact it may help it. Seeing as how she was a popular cheerleader...I mean how could she ever want to talk to me. She had other ditzes to discuss trivial life problems with. But I knew. She knew. We both knew exactly what this was about.

          "please don't say anything…" Her eyes showed fear and confusion. _What was she afraid of being attacked by pom poms? _

          "I won't, its none of my business."

          "How did you know?" She was a curious one, too many questions.

          "Twisting your hair gave it away." And with that I turned to leave, leaving a very baffled brunette standing in front of the water fountain.

          I focused in again on the room, glancing around at all ten students and Kloppman. He was going on about a summer camp he had discussed with all our parents…there were brochures, he passed out brochures to the camp. _This cannot be happening! _I looked over at Michael who was in as much a state of shock as everyone else here.     

          "It's three months…you learn…..and self esteem….new people….learning…" I wasn't paying attention, I was only hearing bits and pieces of this man's rambling. "Now I'd like you all to go home and read over the pamphlets I just handed out…" I saw a manila colored pamphlet in my hand with giant red lettering Camp Label-Not along with a picture of four smiling kids. _They had to be tortured to smile like that, or at least paid _    

          "This is not happening…we have to spend ALL summer at a camp! Jake yelled snapping me out of my trance. "I had plans for this summer! And believe me it does NOT include a bunch of happy smiling kids and discussing what I'm feeling over smores!!"

          "Wai..wai..wait. All summer!" I repeated. Apparently they had established that we'd all be attending while I was in my own world. 

          "Yes." Shanty looked at me like she was ready to kill someone.

          "Yes, I have cleared it with all your parents. We will be leaving in a week." This words were not true. My stomach lurched in anger, I felt my insides were going to implode. I felt nauseas. But this was all out of pure disbelief, anger and the fact that I had no say. 

          "wait, we don't get a choice?" Michael attempted to bargain with him but with the way he was acting he was not going to budge on his decision to send us to Camp Label-not. 

          "Yes. You had a choice, the moment you signed the temporary disciplinary probation contract you could have quit screwing around and you would not be going to camp. But, none of you chose that path and this is where the other path sent you." Kloppman spoke in a gentle voice, although it didn't make his words affect me any less because I was convinced he was "ruining my life."  

          "Why are you sending us to camp! Why do you care! What we do, doesn't affect you!" Cassidy screamed.

          "Because it means more money for him." I grabbed a post it that was sticking off one of our files. It had written on it _Take care of this. We can't. We are willing to pay their way for whatever you decide is best. Keep in mind the summer bonuses comin up. _Now this man may not be a sly, self-centered man. But that note sure made me think he was one.

          "No, I'm not doing it because they're giving me anything. I'm doing it because I really do care what happens to you ten." Kloppman tried to defend himself but I didn't care, it was too late. 

          "Maybe he does have the best of intentions…"Sierra tried to assist him in defending himself.

          " Shut up you naïve little snob! That's were your wrong, there are no good intentions here and if there was. The moment money got involved, the good intent became bribes! The school was bribing him to take care of us! Bribing him! Money ruins everything!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, silencing all noise in the room and the rest of the administrative office. 

          "I don't believe that." There were tears in Charly's eyes.

          "Believe what you want. But He's," I pointed to Kloppman "is paid to care." And with that I grabbed my bag and stormed out of his office. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I couldn't breathe, so I leaned up against a wall, tilted my head back to feel the cool AC and slid down to a crouched position. 


	3. Reactions

A/N I do not own the newsies. *rolls eyes* as if I must say this again and again and again. If I owned them, I'd be hanging out with them not writing fan fic about me hanging out with them! Lol. But anyways, disney feels protective so there ya go! Okay…I want FB! Because im not getting any but from like sgae and bottle cap…and they read it before I post it…but hey.

Shanty's view

"Graft!" I yelled storming into our apartment_. How dare he sign me up for some stupid camp just cause he doesn't want to take care of me! _"Where are you!" I crept throughout the apartment, room for room. Doing what I do best. Sneaking. "Show yourself!"

"What are you yellin' about sneaks!" Graft ruffled his hair, yawning. I had woken him up. 

"What were you thinking!" 

Graft adjusted his red plaid boxers and walked toward the kitchen. "What in the world are you talking about loon?" 

"Camp Label-not! What kind of cruel joke is this! Huh?" I slammed the refrigerator door letting him know how angry I truly was. 

"Oh, yeah. The guidance counselor called…what's his name…Klo.."

I was so aggravated by him playing stupid I screamed "Kloppman!" at the top of my lungs. "You are sending me to a camp where you don't even know the adults name in charge! The man whom your leaving me with for three months and you can remember his stupid name!"

"I am protecting you. You can't run around New York by yourself all summer, it's not safe and I aint allowing it!" _Damn you for being over-protective!_

"If mom was here she wouldn't send me to camp!" I challenged him.

"Well she aint here is she!" He flicked on the TV and turned his attention to the Simpson's.

"Yea and that's why you think your so freaking high and mighty being over protective!" I screamed walking to my room. Before I slammed my door shut I yelled "Let me live MY life!"

Michael Conlon's view

"Andrea it's not that bad!" I tried to calm her down as we walked home. 

"Not that bad! We're being sent to Camp Label-not…for three months!" She shouted, flailing her arms around, not noticing the weird looks she got from passerby's on the street. 

"Chill out. We'll just talk mom and dad out of it…its that simple." now of course I wasn't sure it was that simple, I said it to also try and convince myself. 

"Whatever." She muttered climbing up the stairs to get to the elevator to our pent house we owned at the Waldorf hotel. 

_Dear children,_

Sorry for the inconvenience. Your guidance counselor called today, recommending we send you two to a camp for the summer. Since we are going to be exploring Europe all summer, we believed it wouldn't be fair if we left you two alone. So have fun at camp! You each get three hundred dollars a month and a debut card for the trip. Have fun. See you when you get back. Lots of love.

Sincerely,

Alannah and Steve

"Look Spot! A note they leave for the summer and give us a note!"

I grabbed the paper out of her hand and reexamined it. "Well we can just call them."

"Did they leave a number stupid! No! They are never home! They don't care about us that's why they are freaking sending us to camp so they don't feel "guilty" in Europe!" She yelled, a tear making it's way down her face but she immediately wiped it away and regained her composure. "I am going for a run." I watched Andrea pull her auburn hair back into a tight bun and set off for Central Park before I plopped down on the couch letting the pillows overtake me.

Charly's view

"I can't believe you guys! You lied!" I screamed as soon I smelled the fresh bread in the oven. 

"What deary?" Mrs. Rejourano came out a plate full of brownies in her hand, looking completely baffled.

"I though I got to choose how I wanted to live!" I screamed eyeing the brownies. Peace offerings.

"You do sweetie…we just thought you'd like a chance to make friends…" I cut her off.

"I don't want friends! I don't want to go to Camp label-not!" I ran up the stairs, taking the plateful of brownies with me. "It's not your descison" I screamed. "You aren't my parents!"

Sierra's view

"Hi dad." I opened the door to a house drowned in the odor of whiskey.

"Sie…..rawa," His words slurred as he spoke. " Grab….me anuwa (another) beer."

"Sure dad." I opened the fridge and noticed that the twenty four pack was empty so I headed in there with a glass of water. "Dad, there isn't any beer left, so I brought you some water."

"water!" He screamed, slapping me with the back of his fist, knocking me off balance. My face stung with pain. "You drank some didn't you! You dirty slut!" It seemed that every time he was yelling at me his slurs disappeared. Whap. I could feel him hit me again, the raw skin seared with pain as fresh air touched it. 

"Yes sir." I nodded.

"Go buy me more beer." He threw a fifty dollar bill at me, I picked it up of the floor and walked up to my room to change before leaving. 

Jake's View

"Well honey what kind of plans do you have for summer?" My mother asked nonchanlantly as if she hadn't agreed to send me to Camp total hell. This was her way out. this way she wouldn't have to worry about me-her son. I despised Nick. He's not even true family, he was adopted, but God forbid my mother not worship the ground in which he walks acting like i don't even exist!

"Well I HAD plans," I emphazised had with all my might, "to get togeteher and work on my band, We had gigs!" I threw my fork down in pure frustartaion. Nick watched.

"Why are you talking in past tense Jake, honey?" She was calm as could, playing stupid.

I jumped up and sent the hard backed chair flying. "You signed me up for Camp Label-not! Just so you didn't have to take care of me!" I was so frustrated i could barely breathe. "I cannot believe they allowed you to be a foster mother when you SUCK at being my mother already!" 

Their laughing carried up to my room and I turned Good Charlotte on as loud as my stereo could handle. The beats pulsating through my blood, driving out any thoughts, clearing my mind and soul the best music could. It also served as drowning out their laughter and the anger bubbling inside.

Jack's View

Light blue skies plastered the view from the lounge. _Sante Fe_...how i wish that's where i was going, instead of Camp Label-not. I ran my fingers through tufts of brown hair before resting my haed on the pillows. My thoughts wondered from the setting sun, passing my Algebra exam, the firery red head in Kloppman's office, Sante Fe, those mesmorizing green eyes, sleep. The sleep that was causing me eyelids to become heavy.

"Hey." I sat up crosslegged on the couch, meeting the gaze of Steven. I recognized him from Kloppman's office earlier, he must room at the dorms too.

"Hi..."I didn't know what to say, I didn't even know his name until today and other than that I've just seen him around in hallways. "So we had...U.S History together didn't we? You sat in the back." It dawned on me why he looked so familiar earlier too.

"Yea, somehow you made it so every conversation was brought back to Sante Fe or cowboys. That's why Mr. Littstein started calling you Cowboy." The tension released and he sat down across from me, making himself comfortable. 

"What do you think about Camp Label-not" I was genuinely interested in what he had to say, judging the reactions in Kloppman's office, not to fondly.

"I'm here on scholarship...i can't screw it up by complaining about some three months where we could possibly have fun." He shrugged, wrinkling the red button up top he had changed in to. "you?"

"I'm thinking it may not be all that bad..."I smirked to myself

"Even with the red headed loon?" He was grinning when he spoke.

"Especially with the red headed loon..." I slapped him jokingly and stood up to head over to Michael's house. "Hey ya wanna get outta here?" I decided I'd offer him to join since we would be spending the next three months together. 

Cassidy's View

"Auntie!" I bellowed throught he open french doors. "Auntie!"

"Cassidy quit making such a racket. You are going to wake up Tuesday!" She critisized me in a harsh whisper. "Now what was all that racket about?" She waddled intot he kitchen, pulling out a tray full of freshly baked cookies.

I reached for one deciding that fighting on an empty stomach would be pointless when i could fill it with her cookies. "What is the idea of you sending me to summer camp!" I caught a few crumbs after i took a bite of the warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie. 

"What idea? It worked didn't it!"

"I don't want to go to camp! I haven't been to camp since i was...like seven!"

"Yes and you didn't go out and get pregnant at seven either did you!" I hated her when she used that against me. I could feel the cookie making its way back up so i gulped some milk.

"I didn't wake up one morning and decide to get pregnant!"

"Well this camp may help you mature young lady!"

"Its not called camp grow up auntie! its Camp Label-not!" I stomped my foot. "ANd i can't believe your sending me there!"

She kept piling the cookies up on her pooh bear plate, ignoring me now.

"Whose going to take care of Tuesday?"

"I am." With that there was no argument, i just grabbed about eight cookies and headed to my room. WHo cares if the student population at Lake Vista High considered me a bitch. There was no reason i shouldn't dissapoint them. 

R&R I am getting barely any reviews! I'd like some to know what you people think of the different view, descriptions and yadda yadda yadda!


	4. Analysis of A Student body

/N I do not own the Newsies. *pout* And there are no…well not a lot   
of hard feelings that Disney claimed them first. *clears throat* I do   
however own the camp *ponders* Where's my money? Other than that   
I own Hope and Ringlets. Thanks *bows*  
  
The charter bus Kloppman had rented was full of students, well eleven   
students. He wanted this camp to be an enrichment process, not jail. He   
wanted them to put aside their pasts and move on, to grow close and   
learn that they had each other and they had him. The way the past few   
days around campus had been shaping up he wouldn't be surprised if   
they killed each other one by one before they even made it on camp   
grounds. His own stomach lurched at the though of their reactions when   
they learned of the team projects, feeling exercises and competitions   
they'd be apart of during the next three months, the seminars they'd be   
attending. Kloppman didn't want to think about it anymore and stood up   
to take roll.  
Kloppman just called their names and remembered what he could about   
their past, he didn't expect for them to answer   
  
"Micah." That boy had taken on the reputation as a "bully." But all he   
was doing was trying to forget about his mother's neglect and abuse   
and his beloved brother Josiah's death. He had died in his freshman   
year, murdered by two gang members with no care in the world. Micah   
knew who it was, he had witnessed it, but to save his life and his   
mother's he ran. Far away.   
  
"Shanty " Boy all this girl wanted was to live her life, for her brother   
Graft let her make her own decisions. He was protective of her to every   
end. He was ever since their parents left them, he vowed to take care of   
her. She wasn't close to many people at Lake Vista and I'm not sure if   
that's by choice or because people tend to avoid her because of her   
older brother.  
  
"Steven" He was here on scholarship, trying to escape the torment of   
his past. His mother was beaten by his father and so was he. So once   
his father was arrested she sent him to Lake Vista. He was given a full   
scholarship for room and board and class materials, she visited him   
whenever she could.  
  
"Cassidy" A girl with that proves being pretty isn't easy, they are   
sometimes held to higher standard. Blonde hair, blue eyes considered a   
ditz. But she was taken advantage of one night, according to her at   
least. The rest of the cops in Vista's school district ignored it. After al=   
l   
he was the captain of the football team and who cared if her daughter   
shared his DNA and it didn't matter to them that the day after their date   
she came to school bruised and beaten.  
  
"Jake" He was a pro at challenging authority and causing attention be   
put on him…even if it was negative. He had a nice comfortable life style,   
both parents and an adopted brother. Maybe that's what was eating   
him. The school praised his `brother' and Jake was left behind, in the   
shadows. Maybe it was the same in his house.  
  
"Charly" She didn't listen to anyone but herself. If she wanted to do it…  
she did it. Now she knew her limits but tested them just enough. I'm not   
sure what makes her this way, she has several papers ripped out of her   
student profile. Memo's in her medical file, psychiatric file were missing.=   
  
She missed a day or two every month. Something was up and I didn't   
know what. But helping her was out of the question, whatever it was.   
She had no desire for any help, from anyone.  
  
"Jack." I looked up and saw him messing with his cowboy hat and   
bandana. He was enthralled with Sante Fe and was determined to make   
it there once he graduated. His father killed his mother on Christmas   
eve, wrapped her body up and gave it to him on Christmas. He was   
gone when Jack opened it. Mr. Holloman had custody of him, his   
mother's brother.  
  
"Andrea" That girl didn't trust anyone anymore, not after what   
happened this year. The rumors some guy had started about her   
sleeping with him. She had come to my office once I tears. Five guys   
had confronted her, making crude comments and gestures and she   
wanted to know what I could do to help. But there was nothing I could   
do unless she was willing to press charges and she never came back   
after that meting. Her fellow peers never called her Andrea again, for   
them, slut worked just fine.  
  
"Michael." This poor kid was just mistaken, he never did want to be   
called an anarchist. He just didn't want to conform. To be what anyone   
wanted him to be, he was determined to make his own decisions. That   
way he could be happy. Also he never told a lie, so that probably made   
people nervous being around him. Never knowing what he's going to say.  
  
"Sierra" She probably had the easiest life of them all. Both her parents   
were alive and married. She's never been through divorce, and they   
seem nice enough. When I made the phone calls about Camp Label-not   
they were delighted to pay for her camp tuition and excited that she was   
going. They said it would be a great place for her to make new friends,   
too bad she didn't feel the same way. Sierra seemed perfectly content   
being by herself.   
  
"Cayleigh" From what I've read she lives with her father. I'm not sure   
what happened to her mother and she refuses to talk about it. I had   
asked her to be one of the student camp counselors but I decided that   
she may enjoy being just a camper. She didn't know yet that I had   
changed her camp status to camper with "authority" but I did. Everyday   
she came to school in long sleeves and pants, never wanting to be   
touched and never talking about what happened. All her teachers   
suspected it but no one asked, they didn't care to get involved. But I   
decided to send her to camp, maybe it would help her out somehow.   
  
Kloppman resituated himself in his seat up front and pulled out a book.   
Behavioral Science. His goal this summer was to figure out why these   
students acted the way they did, never letting anybody in. SO all   
summer he was planning on documenting their behavior and everything   
about them. It was going to be a long summer. For the campers and   
Kloppman.  



	5. Roots Of Anger

Just Another label

Charly made her way to the back of the bus towards Cayleigh once it started moving and everyone picked their seats. Nobody was sitting together, everyone sat alone. Her wild red hair bounced slightly on her shoulders every time she moved to dodge someone's arm, falling in her face. Jack couldn't keep his eyes off her not just because she was beautiful but because she was different. Charly wasn't going to fall for his charm easily. So instead he decided to "study" her, her every move. She made a swift motion with her hand brushing the misplaced hair back before carrying on. "Hey Cayleigh." Charly hadn't spoken much to Cayleigh over the past year so conversation may be bare for awhile, even though Cayleigh did have a slight insight on the life of Charly. They hadn't discussed much of anything together.

Cayleigh looked up from her leather bound notebook and paused writing for a second. "Hey Charly." She looked around nervously for a moment and moved her beaded shoulder bag making room for Charly to sit.

"So…uh, how have you been?" she asked as she slipped into the soft chair feeling it calm her nerves a bit.

Cayleigh thought of yelling _"well how do you think I've been! You live with mom who doesn't dare touch you and I'm stuck with dad!"_ but stuck with the typical answer "fine…you?" 

Charly shrugged tucking her hair behind her ears. "Been better." She thought of everything going on in her life and decided now wasn't the time to be spilling her soul to her sister. Whom in actuality was more like a stranger. It was for reasons she and Cayleigh didn't know that their parents decided to split them up like poker winnings after the divorce. "What are you writing?" Charly glanced down at the leather notebook in Cayleigh's grasp.

"Nothing much. Just some poems…" Cayleigh grasped the notebook tighter out of instinct. Did she really care if her sister read it? A twin's bond is suppose to be stronger than blood but that kind of disintegrates when you haven't truly spoken to your sister in over twelve years. 

Andrea sat starring out the window at the passing fields when Micah took a seat next to her. Looking at him hurt her heart. She used to be able to chat away with guys, but after that rumor Tony Morison started there was no going back. She became a slut and that was all she'd ever be in any males mind at Lake Vista. "Go away." She muttered not even looking over.

"Aren't you friendly?" He joked cracking a half smile.

"What do you want?" Andrea asked sick of having to tell her story over and over again to people who ended up not believing her anyway. "I didn't sleep with him…any of them! But if you want to believe we had sex till the cows came home go ahead. It doesn't matter anymore!" She shouted, her voice cracking.

Micah stared at her a minute, his smile never leaving his face. "Actually…"he stated slowly and softly. "I just wanted to tell you that you looked nice and I hope you have a nice day." With that he stood up and sauntered back over to his seat. 

"Well I give it a week till he tries and gets into your pants." Shanty leaned over the unoccupied seat, not actually taking a seat because that would show companionship.. Something they didn't have. But something they both longed for.

"Shut up. Go sneak around and bug somebody else." Andrea looked at her sullenly and exasperated. She didn't care if she hurt her feelings or not, she wanted to be alone.

Michael sat towards the back behind Sierra bouncing a tennis ball against the window. _Plop, plop, plop. _

"Will you stop it you annoying imbecile!" Sierra flipped around glaring at Michael and his tennis ball. _Plop, plop, plop. _"I am going to throw that stupid ball out the damn window!" she made a grab for the ball but missed by a few millimeters. 

"And I always thought the quiet ones were nice." Michael tilted his head slightly grinning. He looked down at the ball and back at Sierra. _Plop, plop, plop_, plo…..Cassidy snagged the ball and threw it out the window. 

"That's annoying at the front of the bus." She smiled a disgusted look and walked back to her seat. "Freakin' blonde freak." She mumbled rolling her eyes and sitting down again.

Jake sat in the back strumming along to an air guitar with his headphones blasting. Jack kept glancing over ready to pull the headphones off his ears and copy Cassidy's actions with the tennis ball.

Jack looked back over to Cayleigh and noticed Charly had moved, she now sat in front of her. Her facial expressions were dull, she was neither smiling or frowning. Just staring. He decided that if he wanted to keep his life he may as well leave her alone.

Steven was asleep in the front. Completely oblivious to the fighting of his fellow peers. That's how it went for the whole ten hours too. Kloppman just sat up front surveying the students documenting their actions. Completely amazed at how much animosity one group of eleven kids could obtain. They were for the summer, his personal science project.


	6. Make or Break

Each student had been given an "official" nickname during orientation earlier that afternoon. According to the camp owner and operator the nickname allowed them to leave their past behind, to become something new without the automatic label that came with the names they arrived with.  
  
~*~* Girls Cabin*~*~  
  
"What a joke!" Cassidy screeched pulling at the tag around her neck, which read "Nugget." She looked around towards the other girls who were moping around the cabin, fighting over who slept where. "So.how did everyone's summer go before this?" Nugget shrugged when no one replied and cranked up her radio.  
"Who is playing that awful music?" Sneaks asked peeking out the door before turning back to Bottle cap.  
Caps rolled her eyes. "Don't ask me."  
"Whoever has that stupid music blaring I am coming to turn it off! NOW!" She shouted walking out of the room screaming in search of the music.  
"Why did you do that?" Cassidy asked looking at her stereo and back to sneaks.  
"Because it sounded like trash."  
"No it didn't"  
"Yes sorry to break your Romeo and Juliet loving heart, it did."  
"Well maybe if someone had started a conversation or put in a comment to me before I turned on the radio then I would have talked instead of singing."  
"Obviously no one wanted to talk to you and no one wants to hear you sing."  
"Bitch"  
"Skank"  
Hope walked in carrying a clipboard, "SHUT UP both of you, group meeting in the living room." She rolled her eyes and turned to walk away, not hearing any feet move she shouted "NOW."  
  
~*~*In the girls living room*~*~  
  
Hope sat down in front of where the other five girls sat. "Lets go over the rules before we decide whose sleeping where.  
"Rule One. If you hit someone, you sleep outside.  
Rule Two. If you verbally fight with someone your whole cabin gets dish duty.  
Rule Three. If you tease or call another person a name then you will be required to find something out about that person nobody knows and a written apology read in front of all the campers during a meal.  
Rule Four. If you are rude, sarcastic or anything that could be taken like that then your privileges get taken away.  
Rule Five: I have the right to give you an alternate punishment  
  
Okay now lets move on to the privileges, these are the happy rules.  
  
One. Boys are not allowed in your bedrooms without my permission failure to abide by that results in my choice of punishment. Which would probably be no boys allowed in the cabin for a week.  
Two. Guests are allowed over until eleven p.m. Guests are other campers, a friend that's visiting which you must see the owner for his signature and me for mine, anyone that's does not regularly board here.  
Three. There's no alcohol or drugs allowed  
Four. If you think it may result in a punishment as me before you do it.  
Five. Have fun, its going to be a long summer." Hope smiles and set down her clipboard.  
"Good now can we go pick our rooms?" Sage asked impatiently.  
"Sage your rooming with Whisper, Sneaks your rooming with Me, Nugget your rooming with Caps." Hope told them.  
"What!" Sage shouted, "How were these decided."  
Hope smirked. "By a personality matching quiz obviously! I don't know Kloppman just handed me the papers. If you have a problem take it up with him."  
"She wont, I will." Whisper mumbled under her breath, not really wanting to fight.  
  
~*~*~* Nugget and Caps*~*~*~  
  
Nugget sat on the end of her bed, folding the clothes that came undone in her suitcase during travel. "So.Caps, in the words from the man who has officially sent us to hell 'what do you expect to get out of this summer?"  
Caps laughed as she tacked up another picture on her wall. "How about, alive."  
"Don't be such a downer. We can all be friends." Nugget joked looking at a picture of her daughter on her nightstand. "Yea right."  
"Amen sister." Caps smiled waiting for nugget to look up, but she never did. ~*~*~* Whisper and Sage*~*~*~  
"Can you take that down please?" Whisper motioned to a Jeter poster that hung next to Sage's bed.  
"No."  
"Please."  
"No."  
"I don't want to look at it for two months, its ugly."  
"I don't care if you have to close your eyes for next two months I am not taking it down."  
Sage left the room quickly trying to find out if she could hit someone on account of they don't like Derek Jeter. "Where's my picture at?" She asked the moment she walked back in and saw the half bare wall.  
"I don't know."  
"Yes you do. Did you take it?"  
"No."  
"Oh really, enlighten me who did?" She crossed her arms and looked at Whisper. "hmm?"  
"Oh that's right, Chelsea took it."  
Sage wrinkled her eyebrows. "There's not anyone her with the name of Chelsea."  
Whisper laughed. "I know that."  
Sage slapped her fists to her side and screamed keeping her mouth closed to muffle it.  
  
~*~*~*Sneaks and Hope*~*~*~  
"Must you look at me?" Hope asked while she tied her hair back, trying to organize the few pictures she brought.  
"Trust me I don't want to." Sneaks looked down on the ground and saw Hope's purse by her nightstand. "But you have something on my side of the room." She cocked her heads towards the beaded Prada bag.  
"Your side of the room?" Hope scrunched her eyebrows like Sage had down earlier.  
"Yes. That is what I said."  
"Fine." Hope grabbed her puse and tossed it onto her bed. "Happy now?"  
"No." Sneaks took out a red marker and drew a thick line down the middle of the room, dividing it into two. "Now I'm happy. My side, your side." She motioned to each side as she spoke.  
Hope laughed and rolled her eyes. "Great. Looks like your stuck because you didn't draw a lane for you to get out the door or into the bathroom."  
Sneaks frowned. "But you have to let me into the bathroom and out the door."  
"It is my side of the room isn't it."  
"Whatever."  
  
~*~*Boys Cabin*~*~  
Kloppman went over the rules with the boys and sent them onto their rooms, it seemed that they were clicking a lot easier then the girls. He'd have to make a note of that. "So there will be breakfast at eight and a challenge at ten. If you eat quickly then you have free time until ten, there is also free time from One to five, Lunch is served at noon, dinner at five and if there's an evening challenge you are required to attend as if there's one in the afternoon. But if there is nothing scheduled you have the time to yourselves. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." Kloppman gathered his books and carried on to his private attachment to the boys cabin.  
"Yea she was pretty hott, I can see why the guys chose to have fun with her." Skittery joked continuing their conversation about Caps.  
Dibs laughed. "She'd be a nice catch."  
Spot squeezed the bouncy ball in his hand with each comment they made about his sister, the anger brewing.  
"Do you think those stories are true?" Jack asked, leaning back in the chair.  
"NO!" Spot threw the ball with all his might and shattered the glass cup that sat in front of Jake. "None of it is true." Spot stood up and walked into his room that he was sharing with a kid that hadn't arrived yet. Nobody else jumped at the chance to be roommates with a "gay" guy. Too bad he wasn't gay.  
"Well that went over well, nice one skits." Jack joked throwing a pillow at him.  
"Yea well he may just be mad his sister has had more action with the guys then he has." Jake said as he picked up the shattered glass. "Not bad aim though.powerful arm. Hope we have like a baseball game he could pitch."  
"Nobody would even see the ball."  
"So what about Hope now that Jake brought her up." Jack smiled.  
"I didn't bring her up on purpose."  
"Two words, Ice princess, she's the total opposite of Caps and Nugget." Skits offered.  
"How would you know?" Jack questioned hoping Sage wasn't like her sister.  
"The same way you know Caps is 'easy'."  
"Rumors." Dibs said flipping through a magazine. "We really don't know anything about them and I don't suspect they're going to jump at telling us anything either. They're obviously not here for being social butterflies." 


	7. Nicknamesmodified

***Yea uh guys pre warning I'm working on word pad at school in my science class and there's like no grammar or spell check so please forgive me for minor mistakes because my internet is down at home and I cant send it out for beta reading. 

I love all my readers! lol. Yea thanks guys for the reviews and everything I'm glad your enjoying it. But another problem is I'm talking three online classes so I may be ALOT busier with 9 classes. *tears* sorry! But ill keep trying.

On with the story. The students are sharing how they got their nicknames/ like why they chose them

*~*~*~*~*~*

            Jack sat plopped down his tray of spaghetti on the long wiry table, in which the other eleven kids whom he arrived with sat, eating their own spaghetti quietly. Not making a sound to anyone else. He took a seat next to Sage and smiled as he dug his fork in the wet noodles, watching Kloppman as he made his way over.

            "Good afternoon kids, how is your meal?" By the few groans he moved on without a definite answer. "Well while we eat why don't each of you share how you got your nicknames? Or why you chose the one you did." He looked around the table and met each pair of eyes for a moment before sitting.

            "Well...I always dreamed of going to Sante Fe so that's why I chose Cowboy." Jack spoke quickly.

            "That's it? Why did you chose Cowboy not Sante fe? Or Mexico or something else?" Sage asked taking an interest. 

            He looked at her startled that she didn't hit him. "Uh...well my mom used to call me Cowboy when I was little...when she gave me the red bandana it signified our dream to go to Sante fe and then she died and....I guess I chose Cowboy to let her know I still thought about her and that I was trying to keep our dream alive...just this time with her in my heart." He spoke quietly towards the end not wanting to appear soft to all his "friends" but soon he gave up and just looked back at his food, waiting to hear the ridicule. Sage leaned over and rubbed his back for a second before realizing exactly what she had done, she snapped her hand back and looked to her sister.

            "Yea...I chose Sage because...a few weeks ago when I was cooking with my mom for our dinner and a movie night we were chopping sage and she stopped everything...I thought I had done something wrong but she just grabbed a piece and brushed away my hair and held it up to my eyes...she said it was the same color so lately she'll call me sage..." She smiled and took a drink of coke. "It's not really like an emotional attachment or anything."

            Hope brushed her curls back and tied them up loosely. "I chose Hope because I do a lot of it and lately that's about all I do." She rolled her eyes as she sipped her soda. "Moving on..."

            "You can't just say that." Jack insisted.

            "Yes I can."

            "No."

            "Yes Kloppy over there didn't say I needed to give you my life story." Hope frowned and turned her head to look at Whisper.

            "Well seeing as Hope's done guess I'll tell ya why I chose Whisper." She smiled and closed her eyes. "My best friend and I loved baseball for years every time there was a base ball game at the Yankee Stadium we were there, her grandpa would take us to every baseball game within three hundred miles if we asked...she was practically my sister, we were attached at the hip. When my parents died, she was there and we used whisper for our code for something's wrong or we needed to talk. I loved her so much she was so important to me as was her grandpa who raised her. When I got stuck in a foster home he was there everyday to take us to school, pick us up. He surprised us all the time by taking us to lunch buying dolls..."tears were running down her face "...and then four months after my mom died we were coming home from a baseball game, the World Series it was this whole weeklong trip we made. We were two miles from her house and some stupid drunk driver hit us! Everyone in the car but me died. They couldn't do anything for her; I watched her die lying in the hospital bed next to me. I'm not much for friends or anything now and that's why my parents sent me here. But I just don't want to replace her so I chose Whisper this time meaning I'm still thinking of you and I love you...I will never forget her...I mean all I have left of her is a picture and whisper..."

            Dibs swallowed and tapped his fingers nervously. "My brother and I were best friends we did everything together, he was my role model. He used to call me dibs because I always took things or said I have dibs on that when mom would bring out fresh apple pie. It was a joke and I never really took it seriously but the moment he died I left dibs behind trying to forget him. So yesterday when they asked me to pick a nickname I picked Dibs, in his memory because since I was came to Lake Vista I've depended on things he taught me and that's it..."

            "Bottle Caps...I had this sick fascination with bottle caps when I was little and my dad drank, I played with his beer caps because I wasn't allowed to do much else...I mean my mom took me and Spot and remarried, now were rich and there was no reason for me to be called Caps again until now."

            "My soft spot in life was my family, I tried to keep Caps from the truth of our dad and why we left and I used to lie to everybody when I was little on how he wasn't really our father...to protect us from getting hurt...so that's why I chose spot."

            "My brother is overprotective so I always have to sneak around." Shanty answered picking at her garlic bread smiling at spot's response, just like her brother.

            "Amen sista." Caps joked; slapping sneaks hand in the air. "I hear ya there."

            "Oh shut up Caps." Spot frowned at his sister and whisper slapped him in the back of the head. "Damn girl! What did you do that for!"

            "Because you just said you were protective of her, leave her alone for agreeing with Sneaks. Its ok." Whisper laughed as she spoke making everyone smile. 

            "Okay..." he raised his fist in the air. "Go overprotective brothers." Kloppman watched the group relax as they shared their reasons. It gave each of them an insight to the life of others, the one's they had taken for granted at one point. 

            "Skittery because I tend to be skittish, I just got jumped once when I was eight. I mean it was to be expected because I didn't live in the best part of town…but when your eight getting jumped by people three times your size with guns and knives is enough to make anyone skittish. But I started playing on a baseball team and practice was always over before sunset and we never walked alone…it was too dangerous. My mom thought it would help ease the fact that I was skittish but it didn't…when I came here on scholarship though it helped a lot. So I guess that's why I chose skittery…cause that's what my friends called me back home…" He threw a roll at Nugget. "You go. Tell us why did you choose nugget?" He joked.

            "Well Tuesday likes them…I mean there really isn't a sentimental value to nugget just that she loves them. Every time I take her out to go see a Disney movie or to play she insists we stop by McDonalds and then proceeds to make us BOTH order chicken nuggets, fries, and a coke…well actually she's been drinking orange hi C but she hasn't figured it out yet and my theory is don't ruin a good thing. That girl is hyper enough without pounding a coke." She moved the meatballs around on her plate with her fork. "Nugget is better then greasy french fries or McDonalds…agreed?"

            "Agreed." Jake said catching the roll as she threw it his way. 

            "Your turn."

            "Well Jake stuck…I mean everyone always said I looked like Jake from Good Charlotte soon enough that's what people called me and I like it. It's a way for me to "escape" from my family, to them I'm just Josh but to everyone else I'm Jake it's kinda of like an escape from feeling."

            The group continued to joke and toss the roll around asking silly questions, just getting along laughing and smiling. Kloppman watched and prayed that tomorrow at the first challenge they'd feel the same as they do now. 

            "So it's unanimous we're all here because were screwed up." Hope smiled as she readjusted the sun glasses on her head. "But I mean what did you guys do to get on probation at Lake vista?"      

            "You spill first." Jake told leaning the chair back on two legs. 

            Hope cleared her throat and stood up jokingly. "I got put on probation because wrote a paper and handed it in to my English teacher, Mrs. Sheardo…"she pause as everybody groaned. "Just it wasn't on the assigned topic it was on her incompetence as a teacher, how she failed at inspiring her students and whoever gave her the certificate needed to take it back. I also sent it to the school board, the newspaper, and the principle…Well from that moment on we started doing work and she wouldn't give me credit so I had to photocopy my work. I swear she was failing me on purpose she kept my grade at a low B/ high C because she wasn't stupid and knew somebody would notice. But when I tried to talk to her and I showed her my photocopied work with the grades on them she called me a spoiled little brat with no problems, liar and all this stuff…I got so mad that she wouldn't give me the right grade that I hit her…I couldn't help it I just slapped her across the face and before I knew it I was on academic probation." Hope sat back down and sighed. "She deserved it."

            "You hit Mrs. Sheardo…literally…people only talk about hitting Mrs. Sheardo. Your famous over at the boys school they talk like it was some boy that hit her…" Jake gawked.       

            "What'd you do?"

            Jake frowned. "I threatened a kid at our school. My friends and I taunted him everyday just for fun; to see what he'd do…finally one day he cracked he destroyed my truck. He took a baseball bat to the windshield, sprayed it with black spray paint…that was the final straw. Everyone always said he didn't deserve to be treated that way well it wasn't only us and he did it right back with his friends. But that truck was the limit, I had to pay for that my parents didn't help me at all…they bought my adopted brother a car but left me in the dirt and I got in trouble like I did it myself…well that's when I got violent…we fought two days later and it took two guys to pull me off of him…I was so mad that I could feel it every time he made a sound those two days and then when I caught him laughing about it…I freaked."

            "So sagey what did you do?" Jack asked causually.

            "Me? Nothing I am innocent I tell you innocent!" She slapped the table with her fist like she was in court. "No I just walked out of my classes to much, argued with the teacher, skipped school. They were doing everything in their power to keep me in school that I stayed out more…until they talked to my mom and then put me on probation…and now I'm here…with the violent crowd." She smiled and meant no harm from her words. "you?"

            "Me and spotty over there…"he pointed over at spot and nodded. "We spray painted the wall of our school…we defaced school property and it wasn't that bad…but it got three of us on probation cause Skits came over and he was freaking about someone seeing us there and picked up a can that we had thrown at him to get him to quiet down, turns out it was busted and blue paint covered his hand so he got nailed too." 

            Sneaks laughed. "That must have sucked Skits getting blamed for things you didn't even do! But I was clever the only reason I got caught was because Kloppman over there was working late. I snuck into the school to edit my file in Mrs. Sheardo's class believe it or not, then I stopped by the Office and hacked into the mainframe and changed my grade. No biggie. But Kloppman over here walked out the second I clicked out of the grades and into absences. I was going after this girl that had made me mad. I changed her grades and had her failing due to absences in another, it was a thrill...he busted me and now I'm here."

            Skits looked over at nugget. "Ya gonna share nugget?"

            "No…not today."

            Spot watched caps to see if she was really going to share what happened, try and change it. "What about you caps?"

            "Nope, I'm not going to. You guys wouldn't believe me anyway so what's the point in wasting my breath."

            "They might."

            "Ya know its pointless to believe that when your own brother thinks you're lying." She glared at him daring him to say another word but he didn't and she was relived he didn't bring up anything about her past.

            "I'm on probation because I threatened to kill this guy that talked about my brother, he was saying all this junk about him that wasn't' true and I warned him not to. So I hit him once then threatened to kill hi if he ever said another thing about my brother."

~*~*~ha ha im ending there


	8. Haunting Memories

**Day: Monday. Time: 6:00 am. Time been at Camp Label-Not: 3 full days** Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies… 

                "Stop it! Go away!" A harsh voice interrupted their song. Both faces turned towards the figure on the couch, smiling. A little girl with long red hair stepped forward, grinning at their audience before turning back to her playmate, another girl but one with dark brown curls. 

_"Let's play!" She chanted waving._

_                "Okay." _

_                Both girls giggled and fell to the ground running their fingers across the surface. "Look Ch…"_

_                "Let's play Rosies!" Her red hair bounced as she stood to her feet helping pull up her friend._

Ring around the roses, pocket full of posies… 

                "You don't belong here!" 

_"Cayleigh…will we be friends forever?"_

_                "I guess." The little girl with all to clear blue eyes shrugged. "We're sisters."_

_                Satisfied she started to walk away. "let's go bake cookies." _

_                "I love you Chloe!" Cayleigh shouted running after her._

_                "I love you to Cayleigh."_

And that was it; they ran away leaving the image of their white cotton dresses blowing in the breeze stuck in their guests mind. Hope held her face in her hands hiding from the light creeping through the blinds.  That was the last time they had played together in the field next to their summerhouse because a few months later their parent's got a divorce as it turned out her mom wanted Chloe, so her dad got her.  "Nothings changed." She mumbled standing to her feet and walking back to her room.

                "Stop!" Sneaks cried out in her sleep thrashing in the covers making a knotted mess of the pale blue sheets. "Let go!"

                "Sneaks it's okay! It's okay!" Hope whispered closing the door to their room and flipping on the light, "It's okay." She sat there looking around for anything, anything that could help her bring Sneaks out of her dream.

                _"Run Isobelle! Run!" _

_                "What?" She looked around frantically hearing the sirens in the distance. "No!"_

_                "Run!"_

_                "I won't leave you!" She screamed grabbing for her brothers arm. _

_                Graft stared down at her, her body trembling with adrenaline and fear. "You have to! That's the only way you're going to be safe."_

_                "I can't leave you! I can't." He pushed her away from him._

_                "Go!" He heard the sirens becoming louder and louder. "They're almost here you have to go. You can't get caught."_

_                "You go!" She pleaded running back towards him._

_                Graft wrapped his arms around her quickly for a brief embrace. He kissed her forehead and pushed her back into the darkness of the alley. "Go!"_

_                Sneaks stood against the wall blending in with the night and watched her brother stand there without trying to fight them off. He knew it was his last chance he was seventeen he had to let her go. _

_                "You! Put your hands above your head!" The police officer shouted handcuffing Graft's hands behind his back. "Think your tough?" _

_                Sneaks whimpered in the dark, sinking to her knees. "It's not fair…he's all I have!" She wanted to run out there and scream at the officer to let her brother go to pretend this never happened. _

_                WHACK. She heard the sound of cracking bone and a loud groan. Sneaks stood up and covered her ears so she couldn't hear the cries anymore, so she could get away and escape her brothers torment. _

                "I want to go!" She screamed punching the bed next to her.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word, mommas gonna buy you a mockingbird and if that mockingbird don't sing, mommas gonna buy you a diamond ring…" Hope sat on the floor in front of her twin bed and sang quietly, hoping it may help calm Sneaks down. "and if that diamond ring don't shine, mommas gonna buy you a…"

                "Hope?" Sneaks whispered her voice cracking. 

                "Yeah?"

                "Why are you singing?"

                "You were having a nightmare…I couldn't think of any other way to maybe calm you down."

                Sneaks smiled and sat up. "Well thanks for, well I don't know what for but thanks."

                "You wanna talk about it?"

                "No. Not yet at least." 

                "Okay." Hope stood up and grabbed her towel before heading to the bathroom. "I'm here though."

~*~*~*~

                Sage pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a light green tank top her mother had bought her before she left. _"Be careful, don't do anything to strenuous. I know you like to push your limits but please Chloe try to be safe."_ Her mother had pleaded with her in the car as if Sage was supposed to have some sort of wild idea and jump off a cliff while away at camp. She loved her mother she do anything for her. It's not like her life had been miserable and camp was a way to commit suicide. She had a decent relationship with her mom. 

                Sage looked over at Whisper to make sure she was sleeping soundly, and did everything in her power to keep it that way. She hated answering questions. Her hands were getting tanner as the rest of her body. Camp would be a good way to get sun was another one of her mother's comments in the advantages box. Sage just tied her long red wavy locks back. The green tank top was a little looser then it had been when they left but she didn't worry. When she changed her pants she noticed the green and purple bruise on her thigh. It was fresh. She sat there for a moment and scrapped her mind for a hint of where it came from.

_                "What?" Chloe exclaimed looking from her mother to her doctor. "This isn't happening."_

_                "I'm afraid so." Dr. Trough told her._

_                "Mom, mom say something!" Chloe shouted._

_                "What do we have to do?"_

_                "She'll have to be on medication and maybe even come in for some more tests. This is a serious issue but since we detected it early on it will be easier to prevent any relapses or further growth. We'll be able to control it."_

_                "That's it?" Chloe looked at her mom wearing a hopeful expression. _

_                Of course not, Dr. Trough interrupted. "Actually you will need to rest more often so your white blood cells can reproduce efficiently. You won't be allowed in crowded areas for at least the first few months until were positive what form you have."_

_                "So no school?" Her mother asked._

_                "No I'm afraid not, not until the tests results are back."_

_                Chloe flipped through the pamphlet her doctor had given her to "explain the rest." "So what am I supposed to do?"_

_                "Act normal, carry on with your life. Of course avoid people who are sick because you have a very high chance of contracting whatever illness they have."_

_                "Normal! Normal with giant bruises on my thighs and my arms?," She mumbled sarcastically._

_                "Hunny, we'll buy you some more pants and a few jackets alright. Everything will be okay." Her mother reassured her massaging her shoulder._

                "Hey whisper." Sage checked her arms and then tucked the jacket back under her pillow. "Whisper wake up. If you're going to take a shower you may want to head on in there now. It sounds like Hope's finishing up."

                "Don't you have to take one?" Her voice was low and her eyes shut.

                "No, I took mine last night to avoid the epic "who gets to use the mirror first" fights." Sage smiled and left the room giving her poster of Derek Jeter a quick wink before heading out.

                Whisper stared at the picture and sighed heavily wiping a tear from her eye. 

                _"Yes! Can you believe we are going to see Derek Jeter in like five hours?" Nichol asked grinning from ear to ear._

_                "Even though we've seen him before," Whisper joked. _

_                "Yeah I guess, but it's still exciting and this time we have the best seats in the house."_

_                "Will you two pipsqueaks quiet down?" Nichols grandpa asked jokingly. _

_                "Yes sir." _

_                "You may want to get some sleep its going to be a long trip and I know you two want to be like energizer bunnies when you see Derek Jeter play, AGAIN." He told them._

_                Quietly Whisper pulled out her pillow and leaned it up against the window blocking the sunlight and closing her eyes. "Have a nice nap Nichol."_

_                "You too..." She mumbled already half asleep her leg sprawled over her friends lap. _

                That was the last day she would ever see a baseball game with Nichol. Whisper stood up and grabbed her clothes bringing her Yankee baseball cap with her. 

~*~*~*~*~

                Cassidy sat on the edge of her bed staring at a picture of Tuesday. 

_                "I can't do this." She mumbled tracing the pregnancy test box in her hands. The pink cardboard shining back in her pupils, the fluorescent light blinding her making her feel alone and the other moms are buying their teens tampons while she was holding the dreaded pink box. "16" she whispered turning the box over and reading the back. "I'm only sixteen! I'm way too young for this." She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. _

_                Curse boys who couldn't control their raging hormones. Curse her for accepting the date with him and not calling her mom after he had had a drink. It wasn't her fault she told her then again her mother didn't know she was pregnant…or could be. _

_                "Do you need help?" A young lady asked her pins reading "ask me I'm here for you."_

_                "No. I know how to read a box thank you." _

_                "Alright." She started to walk away and Cassidy bit her lip._

_                "Actually could you help me with what brand to get. There's like twenty and I just need one answer. I'm not sure what to do." Cassidy didn't look the lady in the eye she stared at the ground._

_                "Here we go." She handed her a teen box and put the other one away. "If you don't mind me asking where the boyfriend is?"_

_                "There isn't one."_

_                "Do you know how to read the test results?"_

_                "No."_

_                "Here I'll help you." She followed Cassidy to the restroom and let her sit in the bathroom for as long as she wanted until she shared the results. Positive. Positive for ruining her life and making teen years all the more complicated.  _

_                "So I'm pregnant. I'm another statistic." She mumbled choking back the tears before collapsing against the bathroom door in front of the lady who had helped her and crying just like as a baby would. _

                Tuesday turned one last Tuesday, three days before she was shipped off to Camp label-Not. Now after she had held her baby, felt her soft skin and seen her first smile there was no way she could get rid of her or even wish she had never had her. 

                "I wanna soak up the sun! 

                I wanna tell everyone to

                Lighten up…" Bottle cap walked in with her hair wrapped up in a towel and sitting on the top of her head with her hair brush acting like a portable microphone. "Hey nugget. Did you sleep well?" 

                "Yeah." She was snickering.

                "What?"

                "You just look like a freak from a movie."

                Bottle cap laughed. "Oh that's it? I was worried it was something serious."

                "Do you take anything seriously?" Nugget asked because she had noticed most of the time BC acted like she didn't have a care in the world. 

                "Trust me. I have learned not to take what other people say seriously. Plus I knew you were joking, sometimes you're not so lucky."

                _"Just do it!" He screamed._

_                "No! I don't want to, I'm not ready." Andrea told him ordering him to turn her car around. _

_                "You'll be sorry." He warned before speeding off into the distance. _

_                The next day Lori was the first one to arrive by her side. "Did you really do that?"_

_                "Do what?"_

_                "Sleep with Todd!" She exclaimed praying it wasn't true. _

_                "You were kissing him in the hallway yesterday."_

_                "So you kiss Justin in the hallway and am I asking you if you slept with him?" Andrea snapped._

_                "It's all over the bathroom walls, you're number. He's saying you slept with him and his friends last night Andrea!"_

_                "He's lying!"_

_                "I hope so! But if you did no ones going to blame you."_

_                "Look I don't need you to tell me whose going to blame me! If you believe him then I don't need you to talk to me."_

_                Lori shook her head. "I didn't say I didn't believe you Andrea!" But it was too late she was gone, halfway down the hall and she knew Andrea had no intentions of turning around to acknowledge that Lori existed._

~*~*~*~*~

                Jack sat on the porch his knees pulled into his chest, wearing his Cowboy hat and red bandana. The sunrise was suppose to give you hope. At least that's what his mother had always told him.

                _"We'll go to Sante Fe one day jack." Her dark brown eyes bored a hole into his mind._

                "I know."

                _"You'll like it." She promised_. He could almost feel her hand against his shoulder.

                "I'll be a cowboy." He closed his eyes and tried to remember his mother's scent. 

                _"I know. I'll be proud of you no matter what you do mom." _

                Sometimes in the quiet he had been finding himself talking to her like old times, as if she was right there and ready to help him at a seconds notice with whatever he needed. "I promise I'll make you proud mom. One day you'll love me again and we'll be together. Don't worry." He looked up at the sky and smiled. 

                "You talk to your mom?" Dibs asked taking a seat next to him.

                Jack looked around slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah. I'm not crazy you know." He snapped.

                "I know! I talk to my brother too." Dibs told him.

                "You do?"

                "Yeah."

                "I've never met anyone that actually understands." Jack told him.

                "I miss my brother sometimes so bad that it hurts and I wish I was dead because I can't stand the pain."

                "Yeah, Its like your alone." Jack agreed.

                They both sat their in silence but it wasn't tension filled or the slightest bit uncomfortable, if anything it was reassuring. 

~*~*~*~*~

                Jake sat on his bed and strummed on his guitar humming his new melody. 

                _"I bet you your brother would like to learn to play guitar." His mother told him one night at dinner. _

_                He looked up from his soda. "So?"_

_                "So why don't you teach him?"_

_                "Why don't you just buy him lessons?"_

_                "He'd like it better if it were you. He likes you."_

_                Jake pushed his soda away and stood up. "Well I don't like him."_

                Still to this day Jake had no intention of teaching his new adopted brother how to play guitar and of course his parents bought him lessons and the most expensive guitar they could find. 

                Spot changed into clean clothes and crawled back under the covers. "Way to early to wake up." He told his roommate half asleep already. 

_                "We're leaving." His parents crouched above his bed and smiled. "It's just s short business trip to Spain."_

_                "Are we coming?"_

_                "No sweetie…we can't bring you, I'm sorry." His mother kissed his forehead softly. "Don't worry though well be back sooner than you think."_

_                "Promise you'll come back?"_

_                "Yes of course."_

_                "Promise you won't be gone to long?" He asked._

_                "Yes sweetie, we're only going to be gone a week tops." His father said as he stood up and left._

_                "I love you." His mom whispered giving her son one last kiss._

                That was a lie, they came home for a day and then went off to France and so on. They were never home for more than a week at a time and when they were they sure weren't actually at home. They dragged their buts in around six am after a long night of drinking cocktails. After a few years Spot assumed they just stay gone. It'd be a lot easier on him and Andrea had they never come back.

~*~*~*~*~

                Skittery woke up in a cold sweat. He had the same nightmare. The one where they were chasing him down alleys and back up streets screaming after him to stop but he hadn't been stupid; they had bats, crow bars and other objects to use against him. All he had was his speed and the fact that he knew the city all to well. Screw prep school gangs he thought to himself. A normal gang, one from the "hood" was just a bunch of angry kids with no money and they sure didn't have a bunch of options. But the prep school gangs were much more dangerous they were filled with anger and hate, weekends with alcohol and drug binges. Their means were unlimited and their daddy's could buy them out of trouble. That's what made them dangerous. The fact that there was no end. Eventually they caught him a beat him. He broke his leg, shattered his knee and had to wear a brace for almost a year. 

~*~*~*~

**12:00 Noon**

**Brent field**

**Challenge Number 3**

**"The tangled web we weave"**

**Counselor: Kari**

~*~*~*~

                "Did everyone wake up okay? I know you guys have only been here for three days and haven't had any real challenges. I want to congratulate Mason high for winning the trivia game we had yesterday. They were the first ones to agree on all the answers and get them right. Way to go Mason. Today however we are going to make the challenge difficult. Everyone from your school will stand in a circle and hold hands, except after grabbing hands the counselors will come around and have you move around while holding hands and then it will be your job to untangle yourselves without letting go. If your team lets go of another members hand you will be disqualified. The point of this activity is to initiate team work. Some of your members will be wearing blindfolds and they will not be able to talk to help aid in untangling your team. If they talk however you will be disqualified. This activity is worth 50 points to add to your team's total number at the end of the week we'll calculate who has the highest points and let them have a day in town.   I have handed out the bandanas to your school counselor who will distribute them to the appropriate students. Each bandana has a name inscribed on it and you must be wearing the correct name or it could result in disqualification. Are we ready?" Kari looked around and sighed. Some looked happy but most looked downright aggravated. 

                Hope eyed her bandana carefully before folding it over her eyes. "Nugget, could you tie this please?" 

                "Sure, no problem." Nugget smiled and held the ends together before knotting them.

                "Ow! Not so tight!" Hope screeched grabbing the back of her head.

                "oops."

                "She did that on purpose." Spot whispered to Hope.

                "Shut up Blondie."

                "What did you say?" He asked pulling his bandana to around his neck.

                "I said Shut…up…Blondie." Hope pronounced each syllable and stared at him after pulling her own bandana off.

                Spot pushed her back. "Don't call me that."

                "Alright stupid."

                "You think you're just too high and mighty for the rest of us Hope. Too bad you're not you're nothing."

                "And you're a jackass whose parent's never come home."

                "And you're the stupid statistic of parent's who divorce and then get rid of the kid they don't want." He spat back his father had been home for that case. Usually he only dealt with business cases but for some reason he took a simple divorce case. 

                Hope stared at spot stunned for a moment. "and you're nothing but a worthless piece of trash and you're parents must agree or they'd probably come home."  
                Spot shoved hope with all his might. Her foot got caught on a rock and she fell backwards landing on her ankle. "Shit." She cried out grabbing her ankle.

                Sage stared at Spot for a moment before pushing him backwards. "Do you like being pushed? Do you like it?" She shouted shoving him again. "Don't touch her again you egotistical piece of shit." 

                "What are you going to do about it?" He snarled.

                "This" She grabbed his shoulders and threw him back against the pole that supported the volleyball nets. 

                Kloppman ran over after another student brought it to his attention that his student's had been fighting. "Hey what is going on here?" He asked quietly.

                "Spot's hitting girls." Sneaks replied.

                "She asked for it." Jack defended Spot stepping forward.

                "No she didn't! He said mean things to her too but she didn't push him to the ground." BC shouted.

                Dibs walked over towards Kloppman. "Look Hope and Spot were fighting and he pushed her, she lost her balance and fell backwards. That's all." 

                Kloppman looked down at Hope and smiled. "You okay."

                "I'm fine. Just enjoying the view," she replied sarcastically.

                "Here let me see your ankle." He reached for her foot but she pulled it away. "Don't touch me." She mumbled trying to stand up.

                "Oh Hope quit being so stubborn." Jake offered his hand to her.

                "No! Don't touch me I'm not disabled all I did was sprain my ankle!"

                Whisper rolled her eyes and grabbed Hope's hand. "Come on nobody dies if they ask for help."

                "Why doesn't everyone here have their bandanas on?" Kari asked smiling nervously.

                "I sprained my ankle." Hope told her.

                "Oh that's a shame your whole team is required to participate." 

                "I'm not dead!"

                "Okay then…can everyone please put their bandanas back on and then resume the circle position?" Kari asked.

                "I'll have their bandanas back on in a jiffy." Kloppman smiled at her and turned back to his students. "We didn't come here to fight you guys that is not why I sent you here." 

                Nugget walked around and silently helped tying them back on jack, Hope, Spot, Sage, and Sneaks so they could start the challenge. "Look guys he's right. We can't spend the next few weeks here acting like every other one of us is our enemy. I have no reason to think you're my enemy." She pointed at jake. "None of us have ever done anything to another student here so we could move on and work together. Maybe even have fun." Nugget spoke so quietly that they had to strain to hear her. She was right of course none of them had any reason to hate each other.

                Kari stood up on a soapbox trying to stop her hair from flying in her face. "Are you ready, get set…GO!"

                "Umm…" Jake stared at the mess of kids around him and started laughing.

                "What's funny?" BC asked.

                "I have no idea with whom to start." He muttered stepping under Hope's arm. 

                "Well that was a start…"Nugget smiled.

                "Okay Spot take a step to your left and twist your body under your right arm." Dibs shouted above the crowds noise.

                "Good job!" Whisper screamed. "Here I'll take a step to my right and go under BC's arms then turn around."

                "Oh la la." BC joked when Whisper came up facing her.

                "It was worth a shot." Skittery called. "Now go back." Whisper did and BC and her acted disappointed to be separated. 

                "Umm Hope climb under the hand to your right and then wait for further instruction." Jake called out.

                Hope stood there leaning her weight on her left foot. Spot stood there with his arms stretched around and kept hold of the hands smirking triumphantly after completing his next move. Jack just stood there not moving trying to figure out how close they were even through all the cloth over his eyes. 

                "Ow!" Sage shouted after Jack had stepped to the side and right on her foot.

                "oops." He mumbled. They said they weren't allowed to talk, not cry out in pain.

                Whisper looked around and found the answer. "Sage move over towards your right!" 

                Jake saw it too; if they could get all the people that were blindfolded to move correctly then they'd be untangled. "Sneaks! Follow this hand." He squeezed her wrist and pulled it to the right, followed by her stepping to the right.

                "Whisper climb over Hopes arm to your left and then spin around, but raise your hand so it goes over her head." 

                "Hope! Hope walk forward and until you can't anymore." Dibs shouted. 

                "Who's left?" Skittery asked looking around, someone needed to move and then they could untangle themselves.

                "I don't know!" Nugget cried.

                "Nobody else is as close to being done we can still get this, everyone take a step backwards." Skittery coached.

                "I can't." Jake muttered.

                "It's you!" BC laughed. "You need to step to your right and untangle yourself!"

                "Oh."

                "That's freaking hilarious!" Dibs shouted breaking into a laugh.

                "What?"

                "That you were the one that needed to move all along." Skittery informed him.

                Whisper turned toward Jake. "If you'd move sometime today, we could get this done. I'm tired of holding Spot's hand." She joked winking at him.  

                Jake took a step to his right and turned under Jack's arm. "Everyone go back as far as you can."

                "You guys are done?" Kari asked walking over smiling approvingly. "Great team work," She noted scribbling something down in her notebook.

                Everyone told their bandana's off and smiled. "We did it." Sage commented tucking her bandana in her pocket. 

                "Even without our masterminds," Spot bragged.

                "Sorry to break up this party." Kloppman smirked walking towards Hope. "But you're going to the first aid cabin right now."

                "All it is is a sprain." 

                "We need to be sure."

                "Okay," Hope tried again. "I know all it is is a sprain, my ankle just twisted to the left and now its sprained." 

                "How do you know that?" He looked at her suspiciously.

                "I'm the queen of broken and sprained bones. I've had a few in my lifetime." Hope said.

**Time challenge ended: 2 pm. Total Points Lake Vista has: 50. Rank: 2**

(The rank is according to all the other teams points)


	9. Passing Time

The walls were painted a pale gray one that could make a bad day worse, dust ridden blinds were letting in all the light it looked like the room hadn't been inhabited for years but now there were eleven teens standing in the middle of it. "Welcome to the sharing room." A perky counselor appeared from behind the door, her blonde hair tucked behind her ears.  
  
"The sharing room?" Sage looked uncertainly at Hope who just shrugged.  
  
"Ugh I think I missed the memo because I didn't bring anything to share." Spot laughed.  
  
Whisper rolled her eyes and elbowed him. "Shut up."  
  
"Well someone's into this."  
  
"Everyone is going to color a picture!" Counselor perky shouted clapping her hands.  
  
"Is this a joke?" Sneaks asked.  
  
Counselor perky turned around looking slightly flushed. "A joke? Is this a joke? I'm sorry does this seem like a joke to the rest of you?" she raised her voice. " I am quite offended that you would have the audacity to call this group learning experience a joke!"  
  
"Sorry." One of the guys mumbled in her general direction.   
  
"It is not like you were sent here for being model students! This is not a joke this is an activity to HELP you!"  
  
Kloppman interrupted her "I think they understand Casella, calm down."  
  
"Coloring can't be all that bad." BC spoke up half heartedly.  
  
Dibs went along with Caps hope. "Yeah I mean what have we got to loose?"  
  
"All right so Casella what would you like us to color?" Jack stepped forward and grabbed the paper and crayons, followed by handing Sage the paper. "Lets pass this junk out." He whispered.  
  
Casella blew her nose and straightened out her skirt. "Today you'll be coloring a collage of your life, or rather what's important in your life." She exclaimed holding up her own picture. "I'll be back in two hours and then we'll share them with our friends."  
  
"Well if this isn't truly exciting." Jake mocked laying down on his back.  
  
"I'm entertained already." Sneaks countered pulling out a black crayon.   
  
Everyone found their places around the room each and everyone finding themselves truly engulfed in the project, coloring without looking up or worrying about who would laugh. They were all too busy sharing their feelings on a white sheet of paper with thirty two different colors. Hope sat with her legs bent and extended out underneath the window, BC sprawled out next to the wall with the crayons poured out around her, by her head Dibs had made himself at home taking causal glances at her picture, Jack set his cowboy hat and dumped the crayons into it leaning against the far right corner, Spot sat in the back of the room where there wasn't much light sitting with his legs straight out ignoring the fact that whisper had laid her legs on top of his in protest. Jake hid among the bookshelf out of everyone's view, Sneaks on the other hand sat directly in front of the door as if asking for someone to barge in unexpectedly. Sage closed her eyes and leaned back against the floor her knees up in the air, Nugget made her place a foot from sage sitting her crayons in her lap and scooting her feet underneath her so Skittery had a place to sit comfortably.   
  
"Can I borrow someone's brown by any chance?" Hope asked looking up from her paper.  
  
"Yeah." Spot threw one at her head smiling to himself.   
  
"Thanks." Hope snapped.   
  
"Was i like seriously the only one that found this a bit odd?" Sneaks asked defensively.  
  
"Nope." Jack told her.   
  
"It may be cool to see what positive things people think of their lives though." Whisper added.  
  
"Well I'm glad you have positive memories." Hope retorted pressing the black crayon down a little harder.  
  
"There has to be something positive somewhere in the seventeen years of your life." Sage said.  
  
"You should dig down deep." Jake laughed.  
  
"Isn't that a song?" BC asked.  
  
"Yeah it goes... "dig down deep, till there's no more. I'll dig down deep where there's a well without a floor, he loves me, he loves me...and so on." Jake sang pretending he had his guitar in his lap.  
  
"Oh yeah we used to sing that in SUnday school." Whisper laughed making the sign language motions.  
  
Nugget smiled. "Its on Tuesdays good night tape. She refuses to go to sleep without it."   
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
  
Sneaks grabbed her papers and moved a foot to the left, out of the way without ever standing up. "I am so talented." she joked putting her crayons away.  
  
Casella opened the door and peaked in to find everyone awake and cleaning up except for Sage who was asleep. She had her arm stretched out beneath her head, her red hair piling over her face. "Please don't everyone rush to wake her up." She remarked sarcastically.   
  
Jack crawled over and tucked some of the hair behind her ear. "Sage...sage its time to wake up." He whispered tapping her shoulder. "Casella's back."   
  
"I'm up." She mumbled groggily.  
  
"Okay who wants to go first?"  
  
"I will." Whisper held her picture in front of her. On it she had drawn a smiling face that nobody could recognize, the New York Yankees sign, a baseball, a white oleander and a book. "My best friend and I loved watching baseball together her grandpa would take us every season. We'd always get to watch Derek Jeter play from the best seats in the house. It was always the time of my life! But then we got in a car accident and i was the only one that survived she ended up in the hospital in the ICU two floors below me, I forced her to drive home from aparty one night when we were wasted and I could never make myself go into her room. I never got to say goodbye or even attend the funeral. But the oleander, that symbolizes the first flower that bloomed after i heard about her death and the book thats just because i like to read. I guess that's kinda what my lifes like I mean that accident pretty much shaped my whole world and its how i got sent to Lake Vista." She put the picture down and wiped her eyes with her thumbs.   
  
"Mine just illustrates the flag of Italy. Italy was where we lived before we moved down here. My mom and dad seemed to be around alot more then, they weren't as busy. I don't blame them however they have kids they need to raise. We had a lot of fun in Italy. I used to play soccer all the time with a bunch of guys we hung out with. We moved down here about three years ago and that was about the last time we saw our parentsd. They started to go out on business trips a lot more and when they came home it was for a day or two. As corny as it sounds I guess I just miss how it used to be." BC folded her picture and tucked it in her back pocket.  
  
"This is going well." Casella said excitedly.  
  
"Sage! Sage!" Jack screamed catching her body before she hit the floor.  
  
"Chloe! Oh my god! Chloe!" hope's head turned quickly and she ran across the room. "Chloe, chloe say samething!" She screamed holding on to her shoulders. "Please."  
  
"This is 911 whats the emergency." The voice on the other end sounded distant and unnerving.  
  
"Chloe just blacked out, shes not moving, we can abrely get a pulse." Kloppman spoke into the phone like a machine.   
  
Minutes passed as silence filled the air.  
  
"Helps on the way." Kloppman reassured everyone that now sat near Chloe's body. 


	10. Hospital Woes

"You can go in now." Kloppman looked at Hope as he walked out of Sage's hospital room.

Hope stared at Kloppman. "Who said I wanted too?"

"Well you are her sister."

"Twin sisters in fact but we quit being sisters twelve years ago."

Dibs took a sip of his coke "you two don't look like sisters, twin sisters at least."

Whisper rolled her eyes. "You idiot they're just not identical twins."

"I think you should go in there. I mean when someone's in the hospital they normally want some family." Dibs continued not realizing that Hope was glaring at him.

"Thanks for the opinion Dibs I'll be sure to remember that." She sat down across from him on the empty sofa.

Kloppman gave Hope a stern look. "You should go in there, it wouldn't hurt."

"What do you know about hurting? If you're so worried about her why don't you go in there?" She snapped.

Jack stared at Hope in disbelief. "Your sister is in the hospital, she just fainted for no damn reason and you won't go in to see her."

"She's obviously alive. I share a cabin with her I'm sure during some point of the next few months I'll have the pleasure of running into her again." Hope replied bitterly.

BC looked around and saw sneaks leaning against the doorway while the doctors talked. "Anyways she was probably just tired or something."

"Yeah I faint all the time when I get tired." Jake responded sarcastically.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Spot begged looking around at everybody.

Nugget shrugged. "So what does everyone do for fun?"

"Yeah let's play twenty questions." BC bobbed her head and mocked a cheerleader voice.

"No wonder none of you have friends." Whisper mumbled.

Hope turned her head and smirked. "FYI Whisper you're not here for being Miss. popular."

Kloppman looked at the group and sighed.

Skittery walked towards Sage's room. "Well I'll go say hello then." When he got to the door he was pushed to the side by three doctors.

"Son, we'll need you to leave us alone with the patient unless you're immediate family." A young looking doctor looked at Skittery and then to Sage's charts.

"Oh well I'm just her friend." He pointed at Hope. "But that's her twin sister."

Dr. Ramirez looked at Hope carefully for a moment.

"Tell the whole damn hospital Skittery. It doesn't matt…" She stood up and shouted but when she looked at Dr. Ramirez her eyes widened.

Kloppman walked over "Hope, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"I…I need to go to the bathroom." She started to walk to the bathroom, treating her sprained ankle with care. She felt him grab her arm. "Leave me alone."

"Cayleigh I need you to tell me the truth." He spoke harshly "Did your dad do this to you?"

She shook her head. "No."

"You have to stop lying for him. I know that a smart girl like you cannot fall down stairs every other day." Dr. Ramirez looked her in the eye.

"This is not you're hospital. What are you doing here?"

"I came for you're sister, I'm her doctor also." He replied

"Well go help her, I don't need you're help." Hope snapped. She didn't realize that everyone was looking at her fight with the doctor and listening in.

Dr. Ramirez looked at Hope defeated. "He's going to kill you one day if you let him continue beating you." He made sure he said all the words clearly. "He's not allowed to abuse you and the only reason he does is because in the last twelve years you have never admitted it."

"And neither have you! It's not my job, aren't you suppose to report suspicions?"

"Cayleigh HRS will not take a girl away who swears up and down that she fell down the stairs. If you were four they'd take you but you're seventeen."

"I know and I only have one year left with him so please just leave me alone. In one year I'll be safe."

He shook his head in disappointment. "You'll never be safe as long as you cover for him." Dr. Ramirez grabbed his clipboard and walked off towards the elevators.

Hope turned around and saw everyone starring at her. In five minutes twelve years of lies were wiped away. Kloppman walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't fucking touch me!" She screamed slapping his hand away.

"I'm sorry Hope I didn't know."

She laughed. "You're sorry. I bet you're sorry Kloppman. But sorry doesn't change anything." She went back to the couch and sat down closing her eyes.

Spot looked around. "Well that explains a lot."

Whisper slapped him hard across his face. "Shut the fuck up."

"Damn it girl if you do not quit hitting me."

"What? What are you going to do? Push me like you pushed Hope at the last match?" She asked crossing her arms.

BC glared at her brother. "Just be quiet Spot."

Kloppman walked in Sages room and saw she was sleeping. "Wow. You are lucky you are in here. The hospital lobby has become a war zone and your sister seems to be the one starting all the battles. You wouldn't believe me but all ten of the other campers are camped out waiting to hear if you're going to be okay." He patted her hand and left the room.

Hope sat up and made her way into Sage's room. "It's uncomfortable out there Chloe. Everyone's starring at me like I'm a leper. Thanks to Dr. Ramirez. He thought that in front of everyone at camp would be a good time to bring up dad and his choice of discipline. The doctors told us you'd have to stay the night for observation and we're all getting ready to leave. They asked me if I wanted to stay but I said no. It's not like we're sisters anymore." She smiled at Sage and tucked a curl behind her ear.

**That Night**

"So what do you think is up with Sage?" Jake asked sitting on the couch in the boy's cabin.

"Kloppman said something about exhaustion." Dibs informed him.

"Why'd they keep her overnight? Is that routine procedure?" Jack asked with a hint of worry in his tone.

Skittery nodded. "Yeah. I guess it just depends on how exhausted you are."

"Oh."

Dibs laughed. "You act like she's you're girlfriend."

"Yeah." Spot laughed. "Last time I checked she was screaming at you and calling you bandana boy."

Jack rolled his eyes. "So what?"

"It doesn't exactly sound like Love." Jake scribbled on a piece of paper.

Spot drank the rest of his coke. "Do you think the reason Hope flipped the other day has anything to do with what the doctor was arguing with her about?"

Skittery looked at him like he was stupid. "Yes Spot it makes a lot of since. I read somewhere when I wrote a paper that abused kids often lash out when someone scares them by touching them without warning."

"Or it could have just been she didn't want a slime ball like you touching her." Dibs offered with a grin.

"I want to know why they hate each other so much. You and BC don't act like that towards each other."

"So? Our parents also didn't split and divide us up like possessions."

**Girls Cabin**

Hope walked out into the lobbying after changing into her pajamas. She didn't make eye contact or even look at anyone else but she could feel their eyes on her.

"How ya doin Hope?" Whisper asked

"Fine. How are you?"

"Good."

There was a long awkward silence.

Hope grabbed a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and looked at the five girls. "What do I have something in my teeth?"

Nugget shook her head no.

"I was well aware of that Nugget but you are all starring at me like…"

"Like what?"

"Like all of a sudden a bruise is going to appear, like I'm damaged" Hope replied with a frown.

They all nodded and looked away.

"I'm going to bed." Hope walked into her room and slammed the door, turning the radio on as loud as it would go and turning off the lights. Maybe, just maybe if she closed her eyes and thought hard enough when she opened them in the morning it would all just be a dream.


	11. Early wake up call

**Hi guys! This is a teaser so BC will stop harrassing me.**

**Hello BC I love you and i love RAE and i love RAVEN and SAGE and WHISPER and CELTIC and MOXIE and...well everyone else too.**

Hope yawned and brushed her hair back with her hand. "What the hell were these people thinking having a 'group activity' start at 7a.m.?"

"I'm sure they were thinking of how pleasant it would be to wake up and see you." Spot replied sarcastically.

"Go to hell."

"God, can you two not fight for at least five minutes!" Sneaks shouted looking at both of them.

Jake rubbed his ear. "Well I sure am awake now, awake and deaf."

Sneaks bit her lip and looked away trying to hide her smile.

Bottle Cap made her way down the hill towards the group in her pajama pants and a tight white tank top. "This is unnatural." She complained groggily.

"Did you forget to change?" Spot looked at his sister and then Dibs who was also looking at her.

She sat down and put her head in between her knees. "No. But at 7 a.m. I'd like to be comfortable."

"Amen to that." Nugget praised tying her hair back in a bun.

Dibs looked at the girls. "You guys really would be sleeping right now wouldn't you?"

Every girl looked at him like he was crazy. "And you wouldn't be?" Sneaks asked in disbelief.

"Sometimes, not all the time though."

BC rolled her eyes. "Everyone would be sleeping right now except Dibs."

"Where the hell is the counselor in charge of this fun filled event?" Hope snapped looking up the hill before giving up. She rested her head against her hand and closed her eyes.

Nugget shrugged. "Maybe we should just go back."

"Yeah right, and suffer the wrath of queen perky…definitely not worth it."

"Well they can always come get us…" She continued hoping someone would agree with her.

Spot rolled his eyes. "No, Whisper's right. I'd rather not find out the consequences."

"Yeah, you would agree with you're girlfriend." BC snapped.

"I'm not his girlfriend."

"Whatever."

"Shut up, what do you know?" Whisper said getting aggravated.

"Both of you shut up." Sneaks threw a rock at a tree and nailed it dead center. "Just shut-up."

Skittery looked at Sneaks and Whisper. "It's 7 a.m. how do you guys already have something to fight about? You haven't been awake for more than an hour!"

"They're girls." Jack retorted.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Nugget glared at jack.

"That girls will fight about anything and everything. It's true."

"It is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"WHO CARES! God damn people! Who cares?" Hope shouted.

Skittery covered his face with his hands. "I swear they sent us here to drive us crazy." He mumbled to himself.

Jack yawned. "This is ridiculous."

"Thank you captain obvious," Jake said with a laugh.

"Aww do I hear some not so happy campers?" Counselor Perky was back. She bounced her elbows on her thighs and smiled big. "Why such glum faces?"

Nugget looked at her like she was a lunatic. "Maybe because it's 7 in the morning and we're not sleeping?"

"Is that really what all the fuss is about?"

No one answered her. She was making matters worse. How on earth could someone be up and that happy at 7? It was impossible, she was on drugs.

"Well kids you should be happy that you're alive today! Waking up to see the sunrise and the morning is the coolest part of the day! Dontcha think?"

"Actually I think nighttime is the best time of day." Jake replied.

"Yeah, we get to sleep." Sneaks smiled at Jake. "Definitely the best time of day."

Counselor perky clapped her hands. "Well you guys will be happy to hear that Sage is making her way down here so she can participate!"

Jack jumped up. "Really? Where is she?"

"Sit down bandana boy I'm right here." Sage said, steadying herself as she made her way down the bank. Jack walked over and offered her his hand but she slapped it away. "I'm not handicapped ya idiot."

He blushed and walked back to where he was sitting.

"Which means we are an odd group!" She looked around.

"Are you suppose to call us odd?" BC asked.

Spot nodded. "Yeah isn't that against one of your rules?"

"Not odd like that silly, odd like theres not an even amount of people. This activity has to be done in two's so someone's going to sit out."

Hope raised her hand. "And that someone is me!"

"Well…I was thinking sage."

"Sage's ankle isn't sprained. She's fine or else you wouldn't have dragged her down here in the first place."

"Fine. Hope will sit out and you can also help the other campers today."

"I don't play well with others."

"Yeah, trust her on that one." Spot said.

Whisper slapped him upside the head again. "Shut up. Just saty out of it you freak."

"I'm a freak am I?"

Whisper rolled her eyes and groaned. "Just shut up."

"Counselor Perky, she's allowed to call me a freak?" Spot asked wanting her to be punished.

"Well no…actually she's not…"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Do we have to get into this?"

"Yeah, can't we just move on so we can go back to sleep!" BC pleaded.

"Punishment will be kitchen duty for all the girls tonight."

All the girls moaned and Nugget threw a rock at Spot. "Great! Look what you went and did ya idiot."

Spot looked at her like she was crazy. "Target someone else you freak."

"We can't get in any more trouble for calling you names but you can get in trouble for calling Nugget a freak." Sage smirked.

Counselor perky looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown. "All of you will have kitchen duty tonight! NOW NO MORE NAMECALLING!"

Hope stood up and smiled. "Sorry I have to miss all the fun you guys are going to have but I'm going back to sleep!"

"Wait. I thought you were going to help the other campers!" Counselor Perky protested.

"You assumed."

"But…"

"As I said, I don't play well with others." She waved her hand as if she was dismissing her and headed back towards the girls cabin.

"This is so unfair!" Spot screamed.

"It is." Dibs agreed.

"Yeah, why do we have to participate and she doesn't?" BC asked angrily.

"Well because she wasn't forced to come here and you ten were. She could have stayed at home and stayed in school whereas you guys would have been kicked out or sent to a disciplinary school."

They all looked at her. How come they weren't informed of that.


End file.
